Poll

Rules for the calculation of educational program credits and the assessment of the results achieved by students during the studies

(Second edition)

Approved

By an order N10/01 of 18 January 2017 of the Rector of THU

Article 1 - Rules for the calculation of educational program credits

1. In accordance with the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) (hereinafter the Credit System), a student’s study shall be a definite time for achieving certain study results by a student under the educational program, which involves contact and independent hours and shall be calculated in credits;

2. A contact hour shall be a definite time allocated for a student’s studies with the involvement of academic personnel carrying out a component of an educational program, and an independent hour shall be the time dedicated for a student’s studies independently from the academic personnel carrying out a component of an educational program;

3. Credit shall express a necessary study load of a student, and shall be distributed between the component(s) of an educational program defined by the general educational program, and shall involve a contact and an independent hour required for study results to be achieved in a particular component; the distribution of credits between the component(s) of an educational program shall be based on the actual assessment of a student’s load having average academic achievements, required for achieving the study result determined for each component. The correctness of the distribution of credits shall be verified by completing and analysing information on actual student load, in which students, together with the academic personnel shall participate; during the calculation of credit, the time for additional examination (preparation, passing, assessment), as well as the time for consulting with the person carrying out an educational component, shall not be taken into account;

4. Components of an educational program are: an educational component and a scientific and research component; an educational component involves one semester and it combines an educational course, module, practice, creative/practical project, Bachelor’s research project/work, training/clinical/practical (professional) training and other components; scientific and research component is one of the components of a Master’s Educational Program and is represented in the form of Master’s project/work or other scientific project/work/activity;

5. A study component having one and the same contents, volume and study results, which consists of equal number of credits for students of all educational programs;

6. A single credit (ECTS) shall equal to a student’s study load during 25 hours and involves contact and independent hours as well;

7. Considering the peculiarities of an educational program and/or a student’s individual training program, a student’s academic load during one academic (training) year, as a rule, shall comprise 60 (ECTS) credits, although it may be less than 60 (ECTS) credits, or more than 60 (ECTS) credits, but no more than 75(ECTS) credits during one academic (training) year;

8. One academic (training) year comprises autumn (the first) and spring (the second) training semesters and holiday periods, which do not exceed 12 continuous calendar months;

9. The duration of the training semester comprises 20 training weeks, which comprises the total of training weeks, and the period for holding additional examination/examinations and for assessing the results achieved by students during additional exam(s);

10. The training week shall be an astronomic week, through which a student’s independent and contact loads shall be distributed.

11. The credits may be obtained only after the achievement by a student of the study results scheduled by a syllabus, which shall be verified by obtaining one of the positive assessments under these Rules; it shall be impermissible to assess the study results achieved by a student on the one-time basis - on the basis of the final examination, except for the cases of exclusion under the legislation of Georgia and these Rules.

Article 2 - Procedures for the assessment of the achievement of study results of a student

1. The assessment of the achievement of study results of a student, as a binding rule, involves the following forms:

a) preliminary assessment(s)

b) final assessment;

2. The Rule provided for by the first paragraph of this article shall not apply to the cases of the assessment of Master’s project/work, the Master’s project/work shall be assessed on the one-time basis (only on the basis of final assessment) using relevant assessment methods and criteria;

3.Each form of assessment shall involve assessment component(s), method(s) and criteria(criterion), which shall be adequate to the assessment of study results to be achieved and as provided for by the educational program component; the total of preliminary and last assessments shall be the final assessment;

4.The assessment of the achievement of study results under the educational program components shall be completed in the same semester, when such studies took place.5. The total assessment score comprises 100; from the total score of assessment (100 scores), the relative share of a preliminary assessment(s) comprises 60 scores (60%) in total, and the relative share of the last assessment comprises 40 scores (40%);

b.a) (FX) Fail - 41-50 grades of the maximum assessment, which means that a student requires more work before credit can be awarded, and shall be given the right to pass one additional exam on the basis of an independent work;

b.b) (F) Fail - 40 grades of the maximum assessment, and less, which means that considerable further work is required and a student has to study the subject again.

9. In the case of grade (FX) Fail an additional exam shall be appointed in no less than five days after declaring the results of the last examination and shall be reflected in the examination schedule; the assessment received by a student at the additional exam shall not be added to the grades obtained at the last examination; the assessment obtained at the additional exam shall be the last assessment and it shall not be reflected in the final assessment of the results archived in the educational program component; considering the assessment obtained at the additional exam, in the case of obtaining grade between 0-50 during the final assessment of the educational program component, also in the case of the failure to overcome the minimum threshold limit of the last assessment at the additional exam, despite the total of grades, a student shall be granted the assessment F (Fail) - 0 grade; the mentioned rule shall not apply to a Master’s Project/Work;

10. When assessing a Master’s project/work, in the case of obtaining (FX) - Fail, a Master’s student shall have the right to submit the processed Master’s project/work during the following semester, and in the case of obtaining F grade - Fail, the Master’s student shall lose the right to submit the same Master’s project/work;

11. The Quality Assurance Service of THU shall be obliged to supervise over the compliance with the procedures for the achievement of study results by a student.

Article 3 - Components, Methods and Criteria of assessment

1. The component of assessment involves the way(s) of the assessment of a student’s knowledge and/or skills and/or competence, which may integrate uniform methods of assessment (oral/written examination, oral/written interview, practical/theoretical work, etc);

2. The assessment method in the educational program component is a mean(s) to be used for the assessment of the achievement of particular study results (open/closed test, matter, essay, abstract, demonstration, group or personal (individual) presentation, participation in discussions, completion of practical/theoretical tasks, working in a work group, clinic, case solution, case review, completion of quiz, participation in the imitated process, etc);

3. The assessment criteria represent a measurement unit of the assessment method, by which the achievement level of study results is defined. The assessment criteria represent a grade index for the maximum and minimum, positive and negative assessment granted to each assessment method;

4. Within the relative share (60%) determined for the preliminary assessment form the following preliminary assessments and their relative shares are envisaged:

5. Preliminary examination shall be held in the written form, and the selected assessment components, method and criteria shall be reflected in the syllabuses completed for appropriate sections of the educational program component and shall be adequate for the assessment of the study results to be achieved and determined by the same syllabus;

6. The terms of holding preliminary examinations shall be determined by the faculty and shall be coincide with the week during which lectures/classes are held;

7. The final examinations shall be held during the winter and summer examination session periods determined by the University in the combined (written/or) and/or in the written form; the selected assessment component, method and criteria shall be reflected in the syllabuses completed for an appropriate section of the educational program component and shall be adequate for the assessment of the study results to be achieved and determined by the same syllabus;

8. The assessment component, method and criteria and their relative share within the academic freedom shall be determined by the academic or invited personnel on the basis of the syllabus submitted for an appropriate part of training or scientific research component.

9. The specificity of a single stage educational program implemented by the healthcare faculty and/or of the disciplines under the program, may require the assessment which is different from the standard assessment determined by this article (written/oral), relative shares of grades (30%+30%+40%), times/periods (for example during coordination training).

Article 4 - Final Provisions

1. For the purposes of the documentation of the assessment of the achievement of study results by a student under Article 2 of these Rules, the printed forms of class lists shall be approved on the basis of the order of the Rector; the class lists may also be maintained in the electronic form;

2. The class lists of the preliminary and last assessment of Bachelor’s research project/work shall be attached to the instruction for completion of a Bachelor’s research project/work, which is appended to these Rules and represents its integral part (Annex N1);

3. The class lists of the assessment of Master’s research project/work shall be attached to the instruction for completion of a Master’s research project/work, which is appended to these Rules and represents its integral part (Annex N2);

4. The class lists of the preliminary and last assessment of vocational (training/practical training), and the form of the diary of vocational (training/practical training) shall be attached to the instruction for completion of vocational (training/practical training), which is appended to these Rules and represents its integral part (Annex N3);